"Believers and rebels in the Land of Sound have conquered small towns and villages heading towards the Mountains' Graveyard." Kakashi begins telling the group. "We believe they are trying to locate anything that Orochimaru, Tobi, or Madara had left behind. We are sending you all to collect any information you can. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE are you to engage the enemy unless provoked. UNDERSTAND?"
"HAI" everyone says in unison.
Asuma steps up and says, "The teams will be as follows:
Shikamaru, you will be with Ino, Choji, and Sei.
-Neji, it will be you, Tenten, Lee, and Hinata.
-Samui, you will have your sister Karui, Kami and Kiba.
-Sasuke, I assign you Naruto, Sakura, and Shino.
Lastly, Temari you will have your brothers Gaara and Kankuro along with Tamaki. They are on the way there as we speak. Prepare your teams and be ready to head out within the hour."
"HAI" everyone says in unison.
Soon after the meeting at the Hokage's building, everyone heads to their respective homes to prepare for the mission. Some head back into town to grab personal things, others head to the Tenten's store to collect extra weapons and scrolls. After an hour of preparation, everyone arrives at the North Gate to head out. Shino sends out his bugs ahead of the group to scout the path ahead of them. Sei creates birds for each group to ride on. Soon they are on their way towards the Mountains' Graveyard.
"Remember this is a simple recon mission, NARUTO," Neji states through his radio.
"Yeah, Yeah, I remember. Don't attack unless they attack us first." Naruto replies back sarcastically. I remember."
"We don't know who we are coming up on. Be prepared for any and everything." Shikamaru jumps in stating. "Shino's bugs are ahead of us scouting for any traps and also making contact with Temari's brothers."
During the trip, everyone prepares their selves for their part of the mission ahead.
*munch, munch* "Hey guys, do you know how long we are going to be gone? Because they have a new special flavor of chips coming out today. I've been waiting on them all season." Choji says while eating a bag of a special secret flavor of BBQ chips.
"Choji, my love, do you ever think of anything other food?" Karui jumps in while everyone laughs.
"Yeah, I do. I think about BBQ Pork, the new Ramen at Ichiraku..." Choji says before Naruto jumps in, "I love the new Ramen. It has so much flavor and extra pork in it."
"Can everyone focus, please?" Temari jumps in.
After about two hours of flight, the group lands in a clearing at the border of the Land of Fire. They are joined by the Kazekage of the Sand, Gaara, Kankuro and a squad of Sand Ninja. From there they make their way towards the Graveyard on foot, so to not give away their position. Suddenly, Shino yells out, "EVERYONE STOP!" Some of his bugs returned to him, informing him about the Sound Shinobi not too far ahead of them. Everyone comes to a complete stop and finds coverage in a nearby forest.
"BYAKUNGAN!" Neji and Hinata both call out. Soon they are both scanning the areas just to the North of the group. "There, it's a group just to the Northwest. It looks like they are setting up defenses." Hinata says in her radio. "I see them. It's also another group on the mountain range just behind them as lookouts." Neji jumps in saying.
"There's no way we can get close enough without giving up our location or get into a fight," Shikamaru says as he looks over the field in front of them.
"Wait, I can do it Shikamaru," Ino says. "If I can get close enough to someone, I can jump into their head and see everything going on."
"What a drag. I was hoping you wouldn't suggest that."
"Why?"
"Because I had already thought of that once we located them, Sei will accompany you." Shikamaru states. "Gaara we need a sand storm to make this happen."
"Hmm!" Gaara answers. "Ninja Art: Sand Blizzard!"
Suddenly, a sand storm starts to form and heads towards the area where the Sounds shinobi are. Soon, Sei and Ino are airborne just above the sand storm. The storm from above is light enough for them to see the enemy, but not the other way around.
Ino spots a lone Sound Shinobi and locks in on him. "Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"After a few minutes, the Shinobi holds a thumbs up. "This is Sei, she's in." Sei keeps watching over the area until Ino returns to her body. After about ten minutes, Ino's body snaps back to life and they head back towards the group in the forest. After they land, Gaara ends the sand storm.
"Okay, so they have the four squads we already know about. They have another four squads heading towards the old lab as we speak." Ino states as she drinks some water. "They are looking for lost documents that Orochimaru, Tobi, or Madara had left behind dealing with creating the White Zetsu Army again."
"That's impossible, I destroyed all of them during the war," Sasuke states as he stands behind the tree. "Kabuto, somehow he is behind this."
"Shino, send everything we've learned back to the Cypher Core." Shikamaru states. "We will continue to monitor their activity until we hear a reply back."
Shino acknowledges the request and sets his bugs out. Everyone takes up positions to be able to keep cover but also monitor their targets. After about an hour, Shino's bugs return to him and the look he has makes even Shikamaru feel uneasy.
"What a drag. I was hoping that wasn't going to be the answer we get."
"I feel the same way," Shino replies. "From the intel I got about our friends ahead of us, we are dealing with some lower level chunin. It's the group in the lab that worries me."
"We will attack in the hour," Gaara says over the radio. "Prepare a medical recovery area 100 yards back in the forest."
"Ino and Tamaki will stay behind with some of the Sand Shinobi," Neji replies. "Lady Hinata and I will provide you all with details of the battlefield."
"Kami, Gaara and Sasuke clear the battlefield." Shikamaru states.
"Iron Sand Senbon!" "Sand Shuriken!" "Chidori Senbon!" "Electrified Shuriken!"
Several Electrified Shuriken fly across the field toward the lookout location of the Sound shinobi. Seconds later, you hear shinobi falling in pain from being hit by lighting. The teams made their attack on the compound. Hand-to-hand combats spark up in different locations as they make their attack run.